Red Sox Journal: Aceves roughed up by Phillies

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Results and statistics in spring training must be taken with a big grain of salt, but Alfredo Aceves dealt himself a significant setback Saturday.

By BRIAN MacPHERSON | | Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Results and statistics in spring trainingmust be taken with a big grain of salt, but Alfredo Aceves dealthimself a significant setback Saturday.

The Philadelphia Phillies battered Aceves for three innings in asplit-squad game at JetBlue Park, hitting three home runs, a tripleand two doubles en route to scoring nine runs - all earned. Apitcher who came into the game with a 1.00 ERA in nine inningspitched saw his ERA climb to 7.50 by the time he walked off themound.

"One outing is not going to tell you the value of a pitcher,"Aceves said. "This was one of those days when nothing wentgood."

As Aceves made sure to point out, it was his first bad outing ina long time. Aceves posted an ERA of 1.80 in 25 innings pitched inSeptember and didn't give up more than two earned runs in anappearance after July 19.

"He just seemed out of whack today," said bench coach Tim Bogar,managing the team at JetBlue Park while Bobby Valentine rode thebus to Jupiter. "He didn't seem like himself. We haven't seen thatsince last August. It's one hiccup. He's fine."

But with the No. 4 and No. 5 spots in the rotation very much upin the air, it would have helped Aceves to have pitched effectively- especially with Felix Doubront pitching well in a split-squadacross the state against the Miami Marlins. Doubront yielded onerun on five hits in six innings, striking out two and walking one,lowering his ERA this spring to 2.70.

Against Aceves, meanwhile, Philadelphia's Pete Orr and FreddyGalvis hit back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning - oneto straightaway center field, one to right field - and Carlos Ruizhit a home run in the third inning.

If roles were going to be determined only by what happenedSaturday, Aceves would almost certainly be in the bullpen - thoughthat's not typically how the Red Sox operate. Aceves said he stillexpected to make his next start in five days.

Shortstop slot covereds

In some ways, Bogar has to be glad he doesn't have to decidebetween Mike Aviles and Jose Iglesias as his startingshortstop.

In other ways, though, the Red Sox bench coach looks at it as acan't-lose proposition.

"We're lucky we have two guys that can play (shortstop) and twoguys that can play it well," said Bogar. "Whatever decision that'sgoing to be, we're going to be fine."

Bogar was the third-base coach and infield instructor when theRed Sox acquired Aviles from Kansas City last July. He worked withAviles before just about every game to help him get the feel backfor the position he's played intermittently as a professional.

"A lot of it was just getting used to playing the positionagain," Bogar said. "When he got over here, there was somemechanical things he needed to clean up with his feet and histhrowing. It all kind of worked together. He improved a lot by theend of last year. ...

"He makes adjustments really quick. One of the things he doeswell was his backhand. He had a little bit of a mechanical issuethere, and he cleaned it up and he just applied it again thisspring after we refreshed it with him. He's had no issues withit."

Iglesias' more publicized weaknesses are with the bat - "He'sstill learning himself as a young hitter," Bogar said - but he'sstill working hard on the nuances of defense, too.

"Once he's around pitchers and players and learns how they'regoing to attack certain hitters, it's going to help him in hispositioning," Bogar said. "It's going to help him take thedefensive flash that you see and make it become simpler becausehe's going to be playing in the right spots all the time. He'sgoing to be more confident in knowing where he should be.

"But what I've seen from him is that his confidence level iscompletely different this year than it was last year - on bothsides of the ball."

Not surprisingly, Aviles has had an edge with the bat thisspring. Aviles is hitting .293 with five doubles and a triple -though without a walk - and Iglesias is hitting .174 after goinghitless Saturday.

Melancon the bulldog

Hunter Pence and the Houston Astros had no qualms when MarkMelancon took over as the Astros' closer last season. Pence hadeven fewer qualms once he saw Melancon start throwing.

"He just went out and dominated," Pence said. "He just keptgetting outs. Every time he came in, he shut the door. The closerjob kind of opened up, and we found him, and he got the job done.He's a guy that works hard. He's a teammate with a lot ofintegrity, a teammate who's a good person. You're not going to meeta better person, and, when he goes out there, he's got a bulldogmentality."

Pence was traded from the Astros to the Philadelphia Phillies inthe middle of last season. Melancon was traded from the Astros tothe Red Sox over the offseason and will be counted on to pitch theeighth inning in front of Andrew Bailey. If Bailey misses any time,Melancon figures to inherit the ninth-inning duties.

Melancon inherited the Astros' closer job from the ineffectiveand ultimately injured Brandon Lyon last May despite having pitchedfewer than 40 innings in the major leagues before that.

Did that lead to any apprehension on the part of the Astros?

"The way he took the mound, not at all," Pence said. "He got thejob done. You saw the determination. You saw the work that he putin. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get another closer's job atsome point because of the way he gets the job done."

Melancon finished last season with 20 saves and a 2.78 ERA in 741/3 innings pitched.

One of the questions persisting about Melancon is how he mightrespond to the move from the last-place Astros to the Red Sox,where pressure to contend is perpetual. After finishing last seasonin Philadelphia, Pence is now plenty familiar with the switch fromcellar-dweller to pennant-race baseball in the high-intensityNortheast.

"It's all what you make of it," he said. "Some people - it makesthem better. It's a lot of times tougher, when there's not muchaction, to have to build that intensity. When there is theintensity coming from the fans, you feed off it - every pitchcounts, you're in a race. There's definitely a difference. Somepeople are going to be good no matter what. The main focus is justthe game, the poise and reaching a state of mind that helps yousucceed. I guess that's to be determined."